Book Talk: Landline

I Tried Something New This Year and It Didn't Kill Me, aka How I Started Listening to Audiobooks: A Memoir

Landline isn't the first audiobook I've ever listened to. That honor goes to Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor - the second book in The Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy - if you haven't read it, run (don't walk) to your nearest library/bookstore/e-reader and read it NOW. Prior to being gifted the box set, I was still in the grips of the series and couldn't find the second book anywhere. Driven to desperation, I checked out my library's only available version: the audiobook.

I always thought audiobooks were weird. I could never do anything that would distract me if I was listening, and I felt as though I retained more of the story if I wasn't thinking about the book and also cleaning my apartment at the same time. But I was desperate. I listened to the book...and I didn't hate the experience. I found listening to audiobooks in my car was actually a great way for me to read when I didn't have time to read. So when I started having a longer commute to work this year, I decided that maybe audiobooks weren't so bad after all.

I listened to Landline back in February or March, but for some reason I completely neglected to write it up or take any notes at all. Thanks a lot, past me. But I remember checking it out as soon as it became available a) because it centers around a television writer and b) because it's by Rainbow Rowell. My first exposure to her was through Attachments, which was sweet and funny and not at all what I expected. Attachments is somewhere between Fangirl and Landline in terms of age range.
Landline is the most grown up of all of Rainbow Rowell's books, and its because of that that I felt less of the "oh my god, this is me"-ness that I felt when reading Attachments and Fangirl. That being said, Landline still has all the humor and clarity of voice that I expect of a Rainbow Rowell novel. Georgie and Neal are at a turning point in their marriage - Georgie has put her marriage and her life on hold while pursuing her dream of being a sitcom writer, and it all comes to a head when Georgie tells Neal she can't go on their family trip because she has to work.

Everyone has had moments in their life where they've wished they could go back and do things differently - but would you, if you could? When Georgie discovers a landline to the past, she must decide if she will use what she knows about her life in the present to change it. A contemporary novel with just a hint of sci-fi, this is great novel for those looking to stick their toe into a new genre, without leaving their contemporary comfort zone.